"Some elements" in Pakistan responsible for Mumbai attack: Pranab

Jodhpur: In what is possibly the first indicator of the direction in which things are set to move after the multiple terrorist strikes on Mumbai, India said today that preliminary information would suggest that "some elements" in Pakistan were responsible for the Mumbai strikes. 

Initial reports also suggested that New Delhi would take up the matter with Islamabad when Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh spoke with Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari later in the day. This was followed up by news alerts which suggested that Singh had apparently asked Zardari to dispatch the chief of the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence to New Delhi with "information."

Meanwhile at a press conference, Indian external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee informed the media that "preliminary information" would suggest that "some elements in Pakistan are responsible for Mumbai terror attacks."

"Proof cannot be disclosed at this time," he said.

He also made a pointed reference to the fact that Pakistan had assured India that it would not allow use of its territory for launching attacks against this country.

According to Mukherjee, Pakistan had provided this assurance at a meeting Singh and Zardari had on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly session on 24 September.

In an address to the nation, the prime minister had yesterday blamed elements outside the country for the terror strikes in Mumbai and warned that India will not tolerate the use of territory of its neighbours for attacks in the country.

India will take up "strongly with our neighbours that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated and that there would be a cost if suitable measures are not taken by them."

Singh had said the "well-planned and well-orchestrated attacks, probably with external linkages, were intended to create a sense of panic by choosing high profile targets and indiscriminately killing foreigners."